The Book You Need to Read: Practical Advice from the Bible

By Debbie Wilcox

The idea of reading the Bible can seem like an overwhelming task and Bible teachings can often be over-complicated. The Book You Need to Read provides an easy-to-understand overview of the Bible in a conversational format, interspersed with stories, and focuses on the overarching theme of encouragement and love presented within the Bibl

• Language: English
• Publisher: Speaks Love
• Release date: Feb 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780578637983

Debbie Wilcox

Debbie Wilcox is a Christian author and business consultant who loves to take complicated information, find the story within the information and share the simplified ideas with others. She has been helping businesses and Fortune 500 companies save money, improve processes and implement new technologies for over fifteen years. She lives in the "Valley of the Sun" in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and three children.

Book preview

Acknowledgements

Many of the concepts presented in this book come from my interpretation of the lessons taught by the pastors at Sun Valley Community Church in Arizona, www.sunvalleycc.com. Lead pastor, Chad Moore, and teaching pastor, Robert Watson, continue to help me understand what the Bible is telling us, and explain how the lessons can be applied to daily life. Any errors or misinterpretations are attributable solely to me. My sincere thanks go to the church family of Sun Valley Community Church; the pastors, staff, worship team, study groups and everyone who volunteers to help me and others, Meet, Know & Follow Jesus. Keep up your awesome work!

Heartfelt thanks to my family: Gary, Madison, Tyler and Kimmie, who put up with me and gave me encouragement to write and finish this book. Special thanks to my daughter, Madison, who designed the cover and amazing artwork. And to my friends and loved ones who helped me along my faith journey.

Introduction

If you have been looking for a resource that can give you direction and instruction for how to improve the things that have been going wrong in your life, there is one book that can help. Whether you are suffering from depression or feeling lonely, or if you’d like to improve your relationships, this book can help. If you are struggling financially and would like to make improvements, or maybe you just feel off or angry, this book can help. What is this amazing book that offers so many answers? No, it’s not the book you are reading right now; it is the Bible.

Okay, not the answer you were expecting or hoping for? I can understand that. But even if you aren’t sure that you believe in God, the Bible is a remarkable book for you to read. It has wisdom and practical suggestions which are still relevant today and can be applied to all parts of our lives. The Bible has advice on relationships, making decisions, listening skills and learning. It covers financial planning, saving and diversified investing. Within this book that you are reading now, I will walk you through different passages of the Bible that give practical instruction, and break things down so they are easier to understand. My hope is, that through reading this book, you will take steps and make changes that will improve your life. You may even be encouraged to seek out, or grow, a relationship with God. When we seek answers through reading the Bible, we build a relationship with God. If we take time to be still and listen for the guidance that God is whispering to each of us, you might just find yourself amazed at the improvement to your quality of life. God is active in our everyday lives if we just stop and take time to notice.

PART ONE

An Overview

1

What is Faith?

What if I told you that everyone is a person of faith? Everyone is a person of faith because everyone believes in something. Faith is something you believe in and put your trust in. Maybe you put your faith in money and financial security – you have a goal to make a specific annual salary, or to get to a specific goal for your savings or retirement account balance. Or perhaps you put your faith into getting a good education – getting accepted to the right university, pursue your chosen field of study, maybe obtain an advanced degree, then you will be able to live a happy and successful life. Maybe your faith is in your job – in the achievements you have accomplished, the steady paycheck you can count on, and the career advancement path you have followed and continue to pursue. You have faith that you are making a difference in the world. It could be we simply put our faith in ourselves and our ability to take care of our needs and those of our family. Regardless of what you put your trust in; you can be considered a person of faith.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Have you noticed that it’s easy to have faith when everything is going well? But what happens when things get tough and we run into a rough patch? How do we handle those hard times?

When a time of struggle occurs, our faith is truly revealed. Where do we turn to seek answers to navigate the crisis? Who do we reach out to for advice? This book will help provide new tools and identify the Bible as a resource to turn to when a challenging or difficult time arises.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

This Bible verse tells us that God has a plan for each of us. This is true even if we don’t realize it or acknowledge this to be the case. God is constantly giving each of us guidance; putting situations and people in our lives to help us and placing ideas in our heart that will direct us down a path that will lead to contentment. Our job is to listen for, and be aware of, these messages. The Bible doesn’t teach that we suffer because we don’t have enough faith. Faith is about convincing evidence, not absolute proof.

In our busy, hectic, overscheduled lives, we often miss the messages and assistance which is offered. We are too busy to realize that there might be a bigger purpose for us, other than just getting through this day, or even the next thirty minutes. The peace and calm that we are yearning for is right there, within our reach, if we can only pause and take a moment to realize it.

2

Doubt

At some point in our lives, most of us experience doubt. We lose faith. We ask questions such as Why did this happen to me? What have I done to deserve this? Where did I go wrong?

The Bible teaches us to prepare for hard times, to expect them even. Jesus, the Son of God, promises us a better life, not a life without hardships:

John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

This verse is from the time when Jesus was speaking to the men he had chosen to follow him and learn from him, his twelve disciples, and he was telling them about what was soon to come: that he would be sacrificed, and put to death on the cross.

The fact is, we live in a broken world where bad things happen. We make poor decisions. I’ll be the first to say that I’ve made a ton of poor decisions, more than I could count, and wouldn’t even want to try to list them all. We also experience the effects from when other people make poor decisions and bad things happen to us because of those other people, through no fault of our own. Doubt is understandable. But Jesus tells us to take heart because even when bad things happen to us, there are still good things happening in the world around us. The rough time will pass. Within the book of John, Jesus gives an example of good things coming from hard times:

John 16:21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.

Have you ever heard the phrase Doubting Thomas? Thomas was one of the men that Jesus chose to teach and travel with. He lived alongside Jesus and learned from him directly. Thomas experienced firsthand the teachings of Jesus, saw the miracles Jesus performed including making a blind man see and bringing dead people back to life. And yet, Thomas still doubted the truth of what Jesus said and told him. After Jesus was put to death on the cross, but was seen in the flesh three days after his death and rose to live again (just as Jesus had told Thomas and all his disciples he would do), Thomas still didn’t believe what he was hearing. Thomas wasn’t with the group of disciples who first saw Jesus after he had been put to death. When the disciples told Thomas they had seen Jesus alive, he had doubt and didn’t believe:

John 20: 25-29 So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord! But he said to them, Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it. A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you! Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here: see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. Thomas said to him, My Lord and my God! Then Jesus told him, Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Often, when we have doubt or don’t believe in something, we look for ways to prove our disbelief. We focus on what are likely small, insignificant things to validate our disbelief, and we forget to notice the larger theme of love and goodness that is apparent all around us, in massive quantities. Rather than focusing on the negative, we can flip the question of doubt and ask ourselves, If God doesn’t exist, then how is there ‘good’ in this world? How can there be such obvious expressions of love poured out to us, and through us, to other people? Would we even know what love is, if there wasn’t a God?"

3

Loss of Faith

It is not uncommon to lose faith. It seems to happen to each of us at various points in our lives. The Chicago Cubs baseball team and their many fans know a bit about doubt and a loss of faith. The Cubs hadn’t won their National League Championship pennant in 71 years. They hadn’t experienced the joy of winning a World Series Championship title in over 100 years. The Chicago Cubs had the dubious distinction of holding